University, Roosevelt, Platte Valley fall at state volleyball tourney

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Denver ­— When it came to getting into the semifinals, Valley stepped up its game.

University tried to, but couldn’t match up with the Vikings.

The Bulldogs played a match riddled with mistakes Saturday and Valley swept them 3-0 in pool play at the Class 3A State Volleyball Championships at the Denver Coliseum.

No. 7 University (18-9) had trouble in the first set, just like they did Friday, but this time it didn’t push their play in the second and third sets. No. 2 Valley was almost perfect so even just one mistake by the Bulldogs put them more behind.

After falling 25-12 in the first and 25-18 in the second, the University players were getting down on themselves after losing a point, which would create more errors.

“As a coach, when you see body language or you just see the demeanor on the court, you get the sense sometimes that they were playing as if it were slipping through their hands,” University coach David Smith said. “And what I noticed when we played Valley the first time (this season), I never got that sense. I never felt that way when they were on the court, even when Valley did well.”

Sophomore setter Madison Fisher said the Bulldogs did feel somewhat defeated in the third set.

“We obviously knew there was five games and we could come back and win,” she said. “We tried and gave it our all, but sometimes just in the end, maybe we just had more mistakes than they did and that’s just something that we have to come back next year and just work on … and come back even harder. And, I think we can do it. I know we can.”

The Vikings were solid all around and Fisher said they picked University apart. Valley senior Emily Dellenbach, especially, had a good match and forced a lot of points.

“They’re a good team and I know that when we played them (earlier this season), Emily Dellenbach did not have a good match,” Smith said. “And so I knew that if she had a good match, it was still gonna be a struggle for us.

He added, “I think they have such a good setter. It’s not like they pass really well, they really don’t. It’s just that she’s so good, she gets to everything, she makes everybody look good. … Cori (Aafedt) is just good.”

Smith said University has another problem that has hurt it a few times throughout the season.

“Our hitters, they just want to be aggressive, aggressive, aggressive,” he said. “Their team is, if they need to be aggressive, they will. If they need to tip, they will. If they need to roll shot it, they will. We have to preach that to our kids; they just want to pound, pound, pound and there’s a time and place for it.”

Even though the Bulldogs had a successful season, Smith said the hard part is knowing that the seniors had to lose like this.

“But looking back, it was a good season,” he said. “We pushed Eaton to five (sets), we beat Valley on their home court (and) they hadn’t lost since ‘07. So we find those things that we can look back on and we’re young. We have a ton of sophomores and we’ll be ready next year.”

Fisher agreed and said she’ll always be proud to be a University Bulldog.

“I’m always gonna be proud to rep my University shirt,” she said. “I wear it everywhere I go, I’m always going to be. I love our team but we just gotta come back stronger.”

Roosevelt loses to top seed

The Roosevelt Rough Riders were swept by Lewis Palmer on Saturday, falling 25-8, 25-23, 25-19 in the second round of 4A pool play to close out their season.

Coach Lindsey Brown said Lewis Palmer is a very good team that has no weaknesses, but Roosevelt responded well after a low-scoring first set.

“We played solid defense and got even better as the match went on after we adjusted to the pace of the match,” she said. “We competed very well in games 2 and 3.”

She added that the Rough Riders (19-8) should be proud of being regional champions and taking fifth at state.

“We have had a great season and this team should be very proud of the accomplishments that were made this season,” Brown said. “This team has improved so much since the beginning of the year and that is because this group worked so hard day in and day out.”

On Friday, Roosevelt swept Coronado 25-21, 25-20, 25-17 in Pool I to finish with a 1-1 record at state.

Platte Valley falls in 3 sets

The Platte Valley Broncos finished their season Saturday after a three-set loss against Holy Family in 3A volleyball pool play with scores of 25-15, 25-20, 25-17.

Platte Valley’s (19-8) leader in kills, senior Mikayla Hoffman, had just seven in the match along with two blocks. Junior Terra Seyler posted 22 assists, two aces and 14 digs for the Broncos.

On Friday, Platte Valley had swept Coal Ridge in the first round of Pool IV play with scores of 25-21, 25-15, 25-13. Holy Family was 2-0 in the pool to advance to semifinals since Platte Valley went 1-1 and Coal Ridge was 0-2.